Since 1948, the Minnesota Historical Society has used oral history to document Minnesota’s past and present. The Oral History Collection of the Minnesota Historical Society includes more than 1600 interviews with Minnesotans from across the state. Our collection deals with a wide range of issues from government and business history to labor and LGBT issues.
Since 2000 the Oral History Department has focused on immigrant communities in Minnesota. Having recently partnered with Asian and Latino groups we are now working with the Somali population in Minnesota to preserve their stories and document their contributions to Minnesota history.
We also serve the state of Minnesota by teaching oral history and by awarding grants to local organizations.
Our entire collection of oral histories is available to listen, watch, and read online at our ‘Voices of Minnesota’ website https://collections.mnhs.org/voicesofmn/
